Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

9–9:30 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30–11 am: Program

The settlement of the American West is one of the most romanticized eras in popular culture, but what really happened as starry-eyed migrants made their way toward the plains with dreams of better futures? In a conversation with Douglas Brinkley, H.W. Brands shows us the courage, perseverance, and violence of a time when people sought their own El Dorado in the West.

H.W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. A New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, his latest book is Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West. Douglas Brinkley (moderator) is a bestselling author and serves as presidential historian for CNN and the New-York Historical Society.